With a stalk-and-pounce trip that sent him sailing past the wire, Amerman Racing's homebred Oscar Performance captured the $300,000 Poker Stakes (G3T) June 17 on the outer turf course at Belmont Park and broke a 20-year-old track record.
When the three-time grade 1 winner makes his 2018 debut June 17 at Belmont Park, a tough group of seven rivals is expected to challenge Oscar Performance in the $300,000 Poker Stakes (G3T) on the Widener Turf.
Terry Hamilton and Brian Lynch are nothing if not persistent, especially where 7-year-old Heart to Heart is concerned.
Lady Sheila Stable's Distaff Handicap (G3) winner Holiday Disguise will seek her second straight graded win in the $250,000 Ruffian Stakes (G2) May 6 at Belmont Park.
Terry Hamilton's Heart to Heart had his own little celebration the morning of April 14, after he won Maker's 46 Mile (G1T) less than 24 hours earlier.
With a long-awaited top-level victory finally on his past performance lines, Heart to Heart will try to capture the race that has taunted him most when he heads a field of 10 in the $300,000 Maker's 46 Mile (G1T).
On the heels of his third-place finish while facing his elders for the first time in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes (G1T), Oscar Performance has a shot at joining a group of horses that have won two different Breeders' Cup races.
Trainer Brian Lynch didn't need a stopwatch to tell him how much Oscar Performance was feeling himself the morning of Oct. 29 at Del Mar.
Domestic stars Beach Patrol, Oscar Performance, and Fanciful Angel will have to deal with top European runners Highland Reel, Ulysses, and Decorated Knight in a contentious Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Del Mar.
Now that Brian Lynch has decided to forge ahead to the Breeders' Cup Turf with Oscar Performance, he has to figure out how to beat the Euros and the American older horses going a mile and a half.
Trainer Brian Lynch felt energized about supplementing Heart to Heart to the Breeders' Cup Mile after watching his smallish bay charge roll through an easy half-mile work in :49 1/5 over the Keeneland turf course Oct. 22.
Jim and Susan Hill's Grand Arch, winner of the 2015 Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes (G1T) and third that year in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) at Keeneland, has been retired to a life of leisure at the Hills' Margaux Farm in nearby Midway, Ky.
Having recently gotten back in the win column after a first half of the year full of starts and stops, Miss Temple City will aim to duplicate her best self once more Oct. 7 against 13 male rivals in the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile (G1T).
One day after seeing Beach Patrol and Fanciful Angel (IRE) finish 1-2 in the Sept. 30 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T), trainer Chad Brown said the duo came out of the race in good order.
Beach Patrol sat off the pace set by longhot Coverge before drawing off with ease to take the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) by open lengths at Belmont Park Sept. 30
Trainer Chad Brown is throwing both quality and quantity at the $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T), as he will saddle three of the 11 entrants in the test, including grade 1 winner Beach Patrol and graded victor Money Multiplier.
Terry Hamilton's Heart to Heart will look to take the next step to a potential Breeders' Cup start in the $250,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap (G2T) Sept. 4 at Saratoga Race Course.
After suffering three straight defeats at the hands of the multiple grade 1 winner Abel Tasman, Salty has a chance to snag a top-level score for herself in the 10-furlong Alabama Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.
John and Jerry Amerman’s Oscar Performance is the best of the lot
Since he broke his maiden in August of 2016, Amerman Racing Stables' Oscar Performance has shown that when he gets firm ground to run on, he will fire.
Amerman Racing's Oscar Performance took command of the $1.2 million Belmont Derby Invitational (G1T) entering the first turn after a handful broke well, and the initiative paid off.
WinStar Farm and Head of Plains Partners' Yoshida will get his class tested July 8, but considering what he's done on the racetrack so far, the Japanese-bred might have the most upside in a stout Belmont Derby Invitational (G1T) field.
Making just her fourth career start and first attempt at the stakes level, Unchained Melody was in control at every point of call in the $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes (G2) as she turned back six challengers in gate-to-wire fashion.
Silverton Hill's Bonnie and Tommy Hamilton have an impressive cattle and horse farm, but it's an hour outside the heart of the Bluegrass in Springfield, KY, where Belmont hopeful Meantime laid up late last year.
Brian Lynch, back from temporarily surrendering his trainer's license a year ago, has Meantime in the June 10 Belmont Stakes after scoring June 3 with Oscar Performance in the Pennine Ridge Stakes.
A foot abscess knocked Classic Empire out of the June 10 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), and left the rest of the entrants' connections to wonder how the race will play out in his absence.
Jay Em Ess Stable's homebred By the Moon will be seeking to defend her crown when the 5-year-old mare tops a field of 10 entered in the $250,000 Bed o' Roses Invitational (G3) on the June 9 Belmont Park card.
After finishing off the board in his two other tries this year, Amerman Racing's homebred Oscar Performance won the Pennine Ridge Stakes (G3T) June 3 at Belmont Park.
Amerman Racing's Oscar Performance looks to recapture his 2016 form as part of a field of eight 3-year-olds in the $200,000 Pennine Ridge (G3T) going 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf at Belmont Park June 3.
Tapwrit, winner of the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) and sixth in the May 6 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1), worked five furlongs in 1:02.25 under his regular jockey Jose Ortiz in preparation for the Belmont Stakes (G1).
A quality field of 11 runners will face off in the 8 1/2-furlong American Turf on Derby Day undercard at Churchill Downs, with champion Oscar Performance squaring off against the filly La Coronel
Heart to Heart will try and lead a field of 12 at every point of call in the Maker's 46 Mile (G1T) in an attempt to better his runner-up in this spot one year ago.
Oscar Performance is entered for his 2017 debut in the Transylvania Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G3T) April 7, in what will mark the first start for the Kitten's Joy ridgling since winning last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).
Terry Hamilton's Canadian champion Heart to Heart broke sharply and never looked back in the $150,000 Canadian Turf Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park March 4, taking the race in front-running fashion for a second year in a row.
In his quest to reassert himself as a divisional leader, Oscar Performance turned in a sparkling effort Feb. 24, when he worked four furlongs in :47 2/5 over the main track at Palm Meadows Training Center.
Lightstream has made the trip west to take on the seven other fillies in the $300,000 La Brea Stakes (gr. I) Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park and some new owners will be aboard for her run in the seven-furlong test.
Little Red Feather Racing has purchased a minority interest in Up Hill Stable and Head of Plains Partners' multiple graded stakes winner Lightstream for an undisclosed sum.
About 30 miles from Hollywood, Oscar Performance proved to be no act as he scored a clear victory in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. IT) Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park.
Eight months after breaking her maiden first time out, Up Hill Stable's and Head of Plains Partners' Lightstream earned her second graded stakes victory when she captured the $250,000 Lexus Raven Run (gr. II) by 1 1/4 lengths over Malibu Stacy.
Trainer Brian Lynch pre-race pegged Heart to Heart as the pacesetter in the $200,000 Knickerbocker and the son of English Channel jumped out to the front early in the Oct. 10 test and led all the way, easily holding off runner-up Jay Gatsby.
Amerman Racing’s homebred Oscar Performance put on an impressive show in Belmont Park’s Pilgrim Stakes (gr. IIIT), leading from start to finish for a six-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile turf test for 2-year-olds.
Several impressive 2-year-old maiden special weight winners will take the logical step up in the $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes (gr. IIIT) Oct. 1 at Belmont Park.
Private Zone, scratched from the June 10 True North Stakes (gr. II) in New York due to trainer Brian Lynch's positive drug test for marijuana, will get the chance to make his season debut in the $400,000 Belmont Sprint Championship Stakes (gr. III).
After a good rest following an uncharacteristic run in the May 6 Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), Rachel's Valentina is coming back to the races.
With trainer Brian Lynch facing a positive marijuana test affecting his good standing, multiple grade I winner Private Zone will be scratched from the $250,000 True North Stakes (gr. II) June 10 at Belmont Park.
Midnight Storm lost the $400,000 Shoemaker Mile (gr. IT) last year by a half-length, but this time he would not be denied.
Heart to Heart could find his way back to the winner's circle for his first grade I victory in the $400,000 Shoemaker Mile (gr. IT) June 4 at Santa Anita Park, a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race for the Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT).
A first try on turf proved no problem for undefeated Lightstream as she rallied to victory in the $100,000 Soaring Softly Stakes May 21 at Belmont Park.
Multiple graded stakes winner Private Zone breezed six furlongs in 1:13 2/5 May 20, marking his second workout at Belmont Park this month as he prepares for the June 11 True North Handicap (gr. II) at Belmont.
A pair of recent graded stakes winners in Kentucky, Lightstream and Wonderment, are scheduled to try turf for the first time in the $100,000 Soaring Softly Stakes Saturday, May 21 at Belmont Park.
